


The Shuttle

by Spoon888



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Obligatory quarantine fic, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:20:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24910708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spoon888/pseuds/Spoon888
Summary: When reports of an outbreak at a Cybertronian colony reach the Nemesis, Soundwave takes the appropriate steps to contain potential spread - and locks Megatron and Starscream up in their tiny transport shuttle for two weeks.
Relationships: Megatron/Starscream (Transformers)
Comments: 36
Kudos: 209





	The Shuttle

They were on their way home. 

'Home' at some point in the last few millennia having depressing become the Decepticon's (Starscream _refused_ to assign ownership to Megatron solely) infamous flagship; The Nemesis. 

They were on the last leg of what had felt like an endless journey. Their shuttle was small and old, but stealth had been such a vital part of their mission it had been necessary. Starscream could have flown them there and back himself, but it would have required hauling Megatron through hyperspace in his gun-mode.

It wasn't something Starscream minded. In fact, he rather enjoyed it -Megatron immobile and silent and riding comfortably on the seat of his cockpit was how he liked his leader best. But Megatron was too paranoid and neurotic to ever consider spending such long hours in his most vulnerable state. 

But he liked to complain of joint stiffness, rather than outright stating that he didn't- _couldn't_ \- trust his own Second In Command. 

There had been little point in arguing with the bullheaded fool over the practicality of their transport. Megatron had tossed him around, pulled rank, and the shuttle had have been taken anyway. 

Starscream wondered why he even bothered. 

After a long cycle in flight, a night spent hunting down a defected saboteur, and another full cycle flying back, Starscream was more than ready for the padded berth awaiting him inside his quarters. The shuttles nav-comp was set to autopilot, and stars streamed by the viewports as they shot through space. 

Hyperspace flight was tranquil to some, but something Starscream found repetitive and dull without the thrum of flight controls under his own keen fingers. 

Alas, yet another thing Megatron couldn't bear to let slip from his control. 

Starscream shifted in the First Officer's seat, arching his back to stretch out the knot of tension building between his shoulders. In the tight, confined space his left wing _clacked_ against Megatron's broad shoulder. The dozing giant stirred with an irate grumble. 

Starscream leaned towards him and did it again, nicking the tip of his wing against the harsh grey edge of armour, feeling bored and spiteful. 

"You are treading on dangerous ground," Megatron drawled raspingly, optics offline and helm resting against the headrest, chin tilted up toward the ceiling. 

"Oh, shut up and recharge," Starscream muttered, kicking his feet up onto the control board. "You're just grouchy because you need a nap."

"Only a fool would lower their guard in such close proximity to you." 

Starscream leaned his chin against his fist, slumping back in his seat. It creaked loudly. 

The end to this torturously expedition couldn't have arrived sooner. Not only was the old shuttle infuriatingly slow and unventilated, it was criminally modest. There were no in-flight games, no comfort seating, no fun features like heated seats or footrests. Just a cockpit, two steel-framed seats, a cupboard you couldn't fit a blaster in, and barely enough head room for Megatron to stand upright. There was nowhere near enough space for them both exist more than an inch apart from one another.

Starscream shifted uncomfortably as he thought about it, his armour starting to feel tight across his protoform. And again, his wing knocked Megatron's shoulder. 

Megstron's optics snapped online. 

"That was an accident!" Starscream shrieked before the maniac could pounce across the flight deck and twist his wing out of shape. 

"But the prior two occasions had not been," Megatron noted dangerously, settling back into his seat with a grind of metal. He peered down his broad nose at the screen in the centre of the control board. "Just count yourself fortunate that we are coming out of hyperspace now." 

"Yes," Starscream folded arms across his chest and watched Megatron roll his seat forward and retake the controls. "So fortunate." 

Their shuttle came out of hyperspace with a shudder and sudden jolt. With his feet up on the control board and having neglected to wear the safety restraints, Starscream shot forward out of his seat and landed with a _thunk_ on the decking, aft first. Pain shot up his spinal strut and he bellowed a curse just as Megatron activated the comm link to hail The Nemesis. 

There was an understandably lengthy pause from the other end. 

"... _Welcome back Lord Megatron. Starscream,"_ Thundercracker's voice crackled over the speakers. 

Starscream clawed his way back into his seat, spitting insults. 

"Why is the main hanger sealed off?" Megatron growled, frowning out of the front viewport. 

Starscream managed to get himself upright and followed his gaze. The Nemesis sat in the shadow of a small pink moon, it's dark hull camouflaging it's distinctive shape and size. Red guide lights ran the length of the ship, directing incoming shuttles towards it's hull, which was indeed closed. 

" _It's eh- well, something happened while you were in transit."_ Thundercracker explained awkwardly. " _Soundwave needs you to dock at airlock four."_

Megatron hung up on him with an impatient slap, guiding the shuttle towards the other side of the ship, where the airlocks sat.

"You think someone's dead?" Starscream broke the silence, wondering what could have possibly happened aboard the warship in the two days since they'd left on their mission. "Maybe Shockwave finally snapped, went on a killing spree?" 

Megatron didn't respond - the talkative, social thing he was. Starscream rolled his optics. Two cycles he'd been stuck talking to that dense, grey wall of armour, trying to poke something, _anything_ more eloquent than a grunt out of it. For once he was actually looking forward to reuniting with the likes of Skywarp, just to hear someone else fill the silence. He enjoyed the sound of his own vocaliser as much as the next mech, but even he had his limits. 

Megatron manoeuvred the shuttle into position with more skill than most grounders would have managed and docked with the flagship's airlock. He was still powering down the engines when Starscream twisted his seat around and darted towards his much anticipated escape. 

The pink energon of their treacherous target still sat unpleasantly under his claws, and the musky, stale smell of the transport interior was clinging to his armour. He needed a shower. He needed a face to stare at that wasn't Megatron's. Most of all, he needed an underling to bully, because Megatron was far too unaccommodating when he came to letting someone push him around. 

Desperate to return to the ship -and more importantly, _normality_ \- Starscream griped the airlock's handle and came close to head-butting the circular viewport in it's centre when he went to fling himself through it only for the ridiculous, out-of-date piece of trash not to disengage on his first command. 

With a mutter of frustration at how similar the old and dysfunctional shuttle was to it's owner, he tried again, ramming his shoulder against it to help it along. It wouldn't open. The control panel beside it blinked red. 

"Blasted- _Megatron_!" he howled, hearing the creak of the pilot's seat behind him as Megatron rose to join him. "Your fragging shuttle is infested with rust! The door is stuck!"

"Move aside," Megatron grunted, already shouldering past. 

Sadly, there was no room for Starscream _to_ 'move aside' into. He fell against the bulkhead and was pinned there by Megatron's massive shoulder. With a muffled snarl he swiped at the thick armour, his razor sharp claws scoring the platings top layer and bringing up sparks. 

Megatron elbowed him sharply, tugging on the airlock handle. It didn't open. "What have you done?" He accused. 

"I haven't done anything." 

"There was nothing wrong with this shuttle before you boarded-"

"There was _everything_ wrong with this filthy little tin-can!" Starscream argued, stumbling along the bulkhead when Megatron turned to face him in the tiny space. 

One of his wings was trapped behind him at an awkward angle and Megatron's hip armour was digging into the side of his waist. The stench of fusion was still ripe on his armour from his overworked cannon. Starscream turned his helm with a disgusted snort. 

"Will you - _move_!" 

Next to Starscream's helm Megatron's wrist blinked with an incoming comm signal. Megatron's gaze darted towards it, and his optics glazed over as he accepted it internally. 

"What is it?" Starscream demanded, leaning in like if he was close enough he could hear the caller speaking directly into his leader's processor, "What's happening?" 

Megatron frowned and pushed a palm against his face to shut him up. Starscream twisted and wriggled but couldn't dislodge it, so bit the side Megatron's thumb instead, sinking his denta into the dark metal. He tasted energon - Megatron's _and_ someone else's. 

He spat it out with a gag, recalling the punches Megatron had dealt to the mercenaries their target had hired to protect himself, the blood and shrapnel still congealed across the warlord's knuckles. 

Unwilling to put up with squirming and biting, Megatron switched his comm from internal to external. Soundwave's droning monotone came over the speaker; "- _reports of the outbreak reached The Nemesis shortly after your departure. Attempts to make contact with the shuttle failed_ -"

"This fragging shuttle!" Starscream snarled. 

Megatron slapped a hand over his mouth to shut him up. 

"- _in accordance with established medical protocol you will be quarantined aboard your shuttle for approximately fourteen cycles to monitor the potential emergence of symptoms."_

Starscream stared at the blinking comm in silence. 

"What?!" Megatron demanded, voicing the same mono-symbolic thought bouncing through Starscream's processor.

" _In accordance with established medical protocol-"_

Starscream wretched his mouth free of Megatron's thuggish hand, gasping, "You said outbreak? What outbreak?!" 

" _Software virus of unknown origins."_

"We don't have any virus," Starscream protested. "I would know if I had a virus, Soundwave!" 

Soundwave did not deign to respond to him. 

"Open the airlock, Soundwave," Megatron ordered in the sternest of voices - one usually only reserved for Starscream's misbehaviour. 

" _Negative_." 

Starscream blinked in startled surprise. Part of him wanted to take an image capture of the look that had appeared on Megatron's face -something between constipated cat and lobotomised Insecticon. Insubordination? From _Soundwave_? 

"Soundwave-"

" _Quarantine protocols cannot be broken for any reason."_

Megatron's optics were on _fire_ , rage pouring out of his EM field and bombarding Starscream like a hurricane he couldn't escape in the small space. "Soundwave-!"

" _Fuel will be provided via the airlock twice daily. Communication will be monitored between the transport ship and the faction at large to prevent any threatening behaviour directed towards subordinate crew members."_

Starscream cursed. Plan A had already been dashed. Soundwave knew them too well. 

"How about we threaten _you_ instead!?" He suggested, seizing Megatron's wrist and yanking it up to his face so he could snarl directly into it. 

Finding this unhelpful, Megatron yanked his wrist back and turned away from Starscream, knocking into him with his great big clumsy shoulder again. Unfortunately he was be unable to escape Starscream in any productive fashion aboard their tiny prison. 

"As always, I commend your tenacity, Soundwave," Megatron began to negotiate stiffly, his fury barely concealed through his harsher, rougher enunciation. "But you know as well as I that there are more practical methods of quarantining the potentially infected than to banish them aboard a two-mech transport shuttle. Together!" 

" _Virus; of unknown origins_." Soundwave stated, thoroughly unmoved by his leader's reasoning. " _Breaking quarantine; ill-advised. Risk in allowing potentially infected parties aboard The Nemesis; high."_

Megatron's breathing had become ragged, his vents pumping him full of hot air like an airship preparing for take off - only the launch would look much more like an explosion than a gradual ascension. It was a sight that, under normal circumstances, would have been enough to inspire a quick getaway from Starscream. But he _couldn't_ get away. He was stuck. He was stuck with Megatron. In a tiny, smelly little transport shuttle, for two weeks. 

Oh, and they might have a virus no one seemed to know anything about. 

Trapped and frustrated and utterly helpless, with Soundwave out of reach and no one else to take his rage out on, Starscream swung his fist towards the nearest available target. 

Megatron's stupid bucket helmet. 

His knuckles clanged against it loudly and shockwaves from the impact shot up his wrist. He hissed in pain and fury and stamped on Megatron's pede instead, and that was many cheap shots as he got in before Megatron turned on him with a snarl and body slammed him against the bulkhead.

* * *

  
High above on the bridge, watching over the shuddering transport shuttle docked against the forward airlock, Thundercracker twiddled his thumbs anxiously. Soundwave was stood on the command deck in front of him, his hands clasped firmly behind his back - looking unexpectedly content for a mech that had just sentenced his own violently unhinged superiors to two weeks imprisonment with one another. 

Thundercracker watched Soundwave turn his helm, indicating that the news had finally been broken. 

"How'd they take it?" Thundercracker asked, wincing in anticipation. 

Soundwave lifted his helm towards him. "They are attacking one another." 

Thundercracker nodded, "Sounds about right." 

* * *

  
The fight hadn't achieved much beyond wearing them out. That, and created a Starscream-shaped dent in the bulkhead. 

Starscream sat across from Megatron, or as far across as he could possibly get on the tiny flight deck. Even if legs were tucked close to their chests their pedes would have still brushed. 

But they weren't brushing, because Megatron -selfish, dominating bastard he was- had his long limbs stretched out in front of him, thoroughly invading Starscream's space. 

If they'd drawn a line straight down the centre of the transport, forty percent of Megatron's frame would be _trespassing_. 

Hardly a shrinking violet about to let an entitled old mech use up all the leg room, Starscream kicked his legs out too, ignoring the aches and pains of his abused frame, still fresh from their brief but violent tussle. His helm pounded behind his optics and he tasted energon where an elbow had slammed into the side of his face.

Still, he couldn't look any worse than Megatron did. Such close contact fighting wasn't Starscream's usual style, but it had meant he could sink his claws into anything within reach without a care and just _gouge_. Megatron's left optic had come close to getting clawed out. Four deep lines sliced through the derma of his brow and the arch of his cheek. The glass of the optic itself had also been cut, damaging the lens. 

Starscream smirked, knocking a thruster against Megatron's shin. 

Megatron stared at him coldly.

"Well," Starscream stretched his arms out in front of him, threading his fingers and pushing his palms forward until dented knuckles cracked. "Now that we've gotten that out of our systems-"

"Speak for yourself," Megatron's rumbling timbre seemed to shake the tiny space. 

"-What are we going to do about our _real_ enemy." Starscream continued as if he hadn't spoken. "The one keeping us trapped together."

"The virus?" Megatron lifted his claw-scarred brow. 

"No, Soundwave," Starscream hissed. "Who is to say there is any virus at all?! This is an invention. A hoax."

"Whether there is true danger or not, there is little for us to do but wait." Megatron let his helm fall back to rest against the bulkhead. "Once we are released, I will deal with Soundwave, if necessary." 

" _If_ we're released," Starscream grumbled. 

Megatron drew back a big pede to kick at him. Starscream scooted to the side just in time, dodging the blow.

"Or perhaps if _you_ are released," Megatron bit out. "Have a care for your own person, Starscream. I have spent two days in your company and my patience is already wearing thin. You will not survive another two weeks without a full personality overhaul." 

Starscream's ire surged at the implication that _he_ would be the problem here. "I wouldn't _need_ to overhaul my entire personality if you learned to control your temper."

Megatron leaned forward, "I'll control my temper when you tame viperous tongue of yours!" 

Starscream pushed himself to his feet, fed up of going around and around in circles with him. "Fine. Put your trust in the mech that locked us up in the first place. _I'm_ going to get us out of here." 

Megatron muttered something derogatory under his breath and Starscream _(somehow)_ tripped over one of his legs on his way to the controls. He turned around and kicked the offending limb, his toe pedes thunking painfully against reinforced shin armour. Megatron retaliated with a boot and in jumping back to avoid the blow Starscream toppled over the captain's seat backwards, aft over helm. 

"Fool," Megatron grunted. 

"Or maybe I'll just leave you in here and escape myself," Starscream hissed to himself, huffily righting himself in the chair and activating the communication system. 

Soundwave had blocked their personal comms, and the shuttles system was the only one that appeared to still work. Every frequency had been disabled except the main channel to the Nemesis's bridge. He activated it, recalling who had last been stationed at the comm. 

He wasn't disappointed.

" _Thundercracker, receiving_ ," his trine-mate answered, sounding reluctant to have accepted the hail. 

"Thundercracker," Starscream purred, drenching his tone with charm. "Be a dear and fetch Skywarp, won't you?" 

Behind him Megatron stirred in interest. Was that surprise he detected from the old mech? He smirked at his own genius. His chest swelled with smug pride. 

Thundercracker hesitated before responding though, and when he did, he abruptly dashed Starscream's hopes of impressing Megatron.

"... _Why_?" 

Starscream felt a hot rush of embarrassment shoot up his neck. How _dare_ Thundercracker show him up in front of Megatron?! How dare he question his orders! He grit his denta and leant close to the receiver, lips brushing it. "I wish to speak with him. So go - and - _get_ \- him." 

" _You know I can't-"_

"Thundercracker," Starscream said shrilly, now no longer finding Soundwave's insubordination to Megatron so funny. "I am _ordering_ you to bring Skywarp to the comm! Or the first thing I'm going to do when I get out of here is ram your helm up his aft, a place I'm sure it's been many times before!"

There was silence on the comm. 

" _Skywarp isn't going to teleport you to freedom, Starscream."_

Starscream stared at the speaker for a long moment. 

" _Starscream_?" 

Starscream very calmly switched off the comm channel, sat back in his seat, started to count to ten, got to three - and yanked a laser-knife out of his subspace and plunged it into comm speaker. 

It sparked, crackled, and died, spewing little wisps of smoke. 

Sat in the floor behind the captain's seat, Megatron chuckled humourlessly. 

Starscream yanked the laser-knife out of the command board and flung it at Megatron. It caught the larger mech along the side of his neck, nicking a fuel line. At such close proximity Starscream should have made more of an effort to aim. 

Because if he'd struck a killing blow Megatron would have been less capable of launching at him in revenge. 

One day down, thirteen to go. 


End file.
